A blog from the Teaching Artists in Chicago Opera Theater's outreach and education programs

Monday, April 14, 2014

Learning Stage Directions

Heather Keith, Opera for All Teaching Artist Intern

After months of brainstorming, writing, and composing our
operas are finally taking shape and the blocking process has started! This is
probably my favorite part of any production and I think it’s becoming the
student’s favorite part as well! It’s amazing to see the transformation that
happens to a show once it’s “on it’s feet” and these operas are no different.
One major change I have noticed in the early stages of blocking is how none of
the students want to sit on the sidelines. Now that there are dances to be
danced and fight chorography to be performed no one wants to miss out!

Reilly students adding in some Taek won do moves to enhance the script

Before blocking was able to begin we took a moment to
explain stage directions and the importance of not closing yourself off from
the audience.During a class at Chase,
Dr. D'Agostino played a stage direction game, which was really
effective in getting the students to understand not only which way to move, but
why we move that way.The students
really loved this game and it made blocking later on much smoother.

During this process we have implored the help of the student assistant
stage managers and I think this extra responsibility is something the students
are really taking pride in.One of the
students I work with at Reilly is on the shy side, but now that she has the
ability to be the go-to person for blocking questions, I can see she is coming
out of her shell.As for the rest of the
students, it’s great to see what physical attributes they are assigning to their
characters.Each character is starting
to have a distinct personality and the more individualized these characters
are, the more confident the students become. All the students are pretty
invested at the point and that I think is the key to great theater. These
operas are going to be amazing and I’m so happy that I get to be a part of this
process.

Student at Reilly Elementary striking a confident pose in the middle of their class composed song